Nothing in Tuesday's loss, however, could take away from Cedar Mill's stellar summer season, a season that saw the team win Cedar Mill's first Majors title since 1991 and go 8-3 overall in the postseason.

"I am very proud of all the players and coaches," said Cedar Mill manager Kevin Meader. "It was another magical season for this group of kids. They made history again, by winning a district title (and by reaching) back-to-back state tourneys."

On Tuesday, however, La Grande and ace pitcher Parker Robinson were just too much. Robinson went the distance for La Grande, limiting Cedar Mill to just two runs on three hits and one walk while striking out eight.

"My hat is off to ... Robinson. (He) pitched a terrific game," Meader said. "That was the best pitching performance against us in two years."

Cedar Mill countered with its best pitcher in Mick Abel, but Abel – battling a sore arm – wasn't able to keep pace. He gave up a run-scoring single to Logan Paustian in the bottom of the first inning, then saw La Grande's No. 8 hitter Brody Kincade smack a two-run homer in the second to end Abel's day on the mound.

Brant Campanian came on in relief for Cedar Mill, but La Grande just kept hitting, getting back-to-back RBI singles from Jacob Adams and Paustian, and a sacrifice fly from Austin McDowell to extend their team's lead to 6-0.

"After using our No. 2 and No. 3 pitchers the night before, I knew we were in big trouble at this point," Meader said. "After two innings, we were down 6-0 and up against a buzz-saw in Robinson."

Cedar Mill's offense finally showed some life in the top of the third though. They got a leadoff single from Brandon Sorensen, moved him up on a ground out and a passed ball, then brought him home when La Grande made an error on Loggan Davis' grounder to make it 6-1.

None of that, however, slowed La Grande. La Grande came back with two runs in its half of the third to push ahead 8-1, Robinson opening with a solo homer and the second run coming home on a Cedar Mill error.

Ethan Wilson countered with a huge, two-out solo homer over the center field scoreboard for Cedar Mill in the fourth, but that 8-2 deficit was as close as Cedar Mill would get the rest of the way. The District 4 champs got a Davis single in the fifth and put James Porter aboard on an error in the sixth, but Robinson shut off each threat to preserve the victory.

After Connor Kollas pitched a scoreless fourth for Cedar Mill, Brody Kincade and Justin Frederick tacked on RBI singles for La Grande in the bottom of the fifth to round out the scoring.

In the end, Cedar Mill's tournament hopes were severely handicapped when the team dropped its opener 6-5 to Grants Pass on Friday, July 18, and burned a lot of their pitchers' innings in the games that followed.

"Our trip through the loser's bracket finally caught up with our pitching," Meader said. "With the nine-team format, two teams were forced to play an extra game on Friday, and we should not have lost that game. It sent us down a very long road."

Still, the team's postseason run could only be considered a success. Over its 11 games, Cedar Mill scored 119 runs and gave up just 40, and hit 24 home runs along the way.

Further, Cedar Mill built a strong relationship with its community in the process.

"Our community really supported our team and turned out in big numbers at Alpenrose," Meader said. "We would like to thank them all. The boys really appreciated all the fans coming to the games and cheering us on."

The team also included Will Harrington, Danny Hext, Gavin Meader, Ryan Ready, Hayden Skiba, Kaito Wilson and coaches Neil Abel and Collin Davis.